“So, Skyrim was quite good, weren’t it?” has opened a fair few gaming discussions I’ve had recently. Two common themes I see, almost inevitably, following on from this, at some point in the discussion, are; “I preferred Oblivion / Morrowind…” and / or… “What do you think will be in The Elder Scrolls 6?”

Well, following much debate with many a fellow fan, I’ve decided I should assemble all the thoughts we’ve come up with in regard to any such sequel into one article for the enjoyment, flaming and derision of fellow “Elder Scrollsites”. Obviously what follows is not only highly speculative, but also contains lots of personal opinions, concepts and theories which are likely never to have any connection to any Elder Scrolls games whatsoever! You have been warned.

Beware! For there be dragons in this here… erm… fantastical fiction?

Bethesda have a long history of really delivering when it comes to truly open world RPG. They also have a track record of not quite delivering to their full potential in similar fields. For every Fallout 3 & Skyrim there is a RAGE & Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. (NOTE: I actually quite liked RAGE for what it was… a very linear shooter with fun mini-games).

But, credit where credit is due, over the last decade Bethesda have unfailingly delivered quality in the open world RPG field (Although we might want to avoid looking too hard at New Vegas). Furthermore, having “Elder Scrolls” on the box has, so far, guaranteed pure gaming quality.

But what now, where now? How can you top a game as good as Skyrim? Well, let’s remember that Bethesda have done this twice this millenia, improving on both the exceptional Morrowind and then on the really very good Oblivion.
If you chart the evolution of the “modern” Elder Scrolls games on the current gaming platforms you can see that we get a new Elder Scrolls installment delivered roughly every 4 to 5 years. This, even before we start thinking about features and feel, puts the next Elder Scrolls game into the next generation of gaming hardware. By 2015 we will have new consoles from at least Sony & Microsoft, with the prospect of Nintendo joining them with a Wii U successor increasingly likely. This obviously has a huge impact on what will be possible for Bethesda to include in The Elder Scrolls 6. (For more musings on the future of gaming technology, check out our dedicated analysis on that very topic coming soon!)

What? This doesn’t look so bad considering it was advertised as “Oblivion”!

So “The Elder Scrolls 6: Skirrovion” is going to be an even bigger beast of a game than it’s predecessors, with more of everything available to power it on the shiny new hardware.

How will this change the experience? What can we expect to gain as gamers?

Control

In addition to the obvious graphical improvements we can be fairly certain that we will also be seeing changes in control schema. For instance we can expect to be dancing round our collective living rooms, twirling our huge virtual weaponry to satisfying effect as we shout instructions to our merry band of misfit NPC followers… expect plenty of motion control and copious amounts of speech recognition to be the primary additions to your trusty wireless controller…

Audio

So what will we be able to do with all this additional control we have over our role in The Elder Scrolls game world? Well, beyond simply inhabiting a bigger game world, with more of… well… basically everything… There are some perhaps less obvious benefits of ongoing technological improvements in this domain. The Elder Scrolls 6 would be exactly the kind of game that could benefit hugely from full speech synthesis;

How much easier would it be if Bethesda’s writers could just write the dialog and have the game generate the speech / audio for this on the fly. The huge cost of pre-recording, editing and packaging every line of dialog and the massive limits this puts on a game’s development could be hugely reduced, we are on the threshold of this approach providing sufficient realism to work practically in a game world.

Lydia’s sister Tracy loved to go on and on about her beautiful house… sigh…

AI, Movement and Grouping

Progress in the AI field continues a apace and The Elder Scrolls 6 will be well able to take great advantage of this. Everything from combat to pathing to tactics, and who knows, even dialog could benefit! In The Elder Scrolls universe we can expect to see far more sophisticated strategy employed by opponents, with flanking, cover and “mobbing” far more frequent and effective. It’s is rare in Skyrim that you are attacked on mass, or ambushed, expect far more of this as now possibilities emerge in the AI & group behaviour fields.

Additionally computational power will allow for true freedom of movement, with greatly improved “camera” reaction to this. scrambling up and down slopes will look and feel far more realistic, and I still believe proper climbing would hugely benefit the Elder Scrolls experience.

Increased party size is another big possibility. With the surplus computing power we could see Bethesda go down the BioWare path of increasing the number of characters you can actively manage live. But this will not simply add to your fire power, it will also enable much larger and more complex encounters. No longer limited to only supporting 2 characters on your “team” we could see the 4 or 5 members of your team defending an area from perhaps 40 or 50 foes, imagine the excitement, as you yell out commands to them and contend with the improved enemy AI!

“Radiant AI” will be improved and will support far more complex and flexible “decisions” about the game world. Better understanding of where you have and have not been, smoother movement of quest characters within new, current and future quests, better integration with the increased complexity of NPC emotional life and faction based factors, etc.

Politics

In the wider game world of Elder Scrolls 6 these improvements will also lead to far more dynamic “faction” based changes to the political landscape. Expect to be both loved and loathed by different peoples but also that outposts, villages and towns will change hands as rival factions fight it out. But most importantly expect to have a more realistic & subtle impact on this; forge treaties, make alliances and establish preferential trade with each group separately, the opportunity for intrigue and deception is huge.

A bigger role. Your effect on the game-world will be stepped up. Expect to make tough decisions about the band / outpost / village / town / kingdom you are responsible for. With each bigger responsibility built on what you learnt from the one before.

Ultimately you will need to decide if you will “manage” a kingdom as it’s ruler, champion a kingdom as it’s… well… champion, or give it all up for a humble family life in an estate you must care for and with a family you must nurture and defend.

Careful if you decide to sneak up on a horse, both hooves and… other stuff… can prove uninviting…

Relationships and Characters

Deeper customisation is bound to feature and I expect to see this extend to your companions. An optional feature to tailor and manage your companion’s skills, load-outs and tactics (which can optionally be set to “auto-evolve”) only adds to your investment in them, but again, this will not be all about making your life easier. Expect to have to manage your new found band’s wants and needs and balance them against your own.

Relationships with characters will hold more meaning and be far more important. They will not simply follow you around, but rather engage in ongoing debate about your actions and make decisions about their involvement with you in the short, medium and long term. I can definitely see you starting as a member of someone else’s band, following them around and at some stage deciding to split form them, perhaps taking some hard won friends with you when you go. It will no longer be a simple case of “picking” who you would like to befriend or romance, they will also have to “pick” you. How far will you go to win someone’s favour / love?

Know your weakness. In almost every game you are the “ultimate weapon” for any task which needs completing. In The Elder Scrolls 6 you will need to understand and use the strengths and weaknesses of companions, factions, races and classes. It may be that a task that needs completing is best assigned to a group of companions which does not include you. Do you dispatch them and wait for their return? Or do you take control of one of them for the duration of the task? Will you have a choice? Bethesda it’s over to you!

Environment and Fauna

Environmental impact will be more obvious and impactful. You will have the opportunity to do things like break dams to flood areas and drain others. Build bridges and temporary / permanent structures. Improvise defenses and use things like fire more pro-actively. Place traps and push boulders, destroy walls and who knows maybe even “undermine” (in the original sense of the word) opposing defenses… in a tribute to the game that has inspired these approaches! (Go Notch!)

Animal interaction will be more integrated. From pets to mounts you will be able to tame and provoke animals to great effect. A trusty war dog yes, but a bear as a steed? A friendly troll bodyguard? And of course my much beloved dragon riding. My personal favourite here would be the ability to imbue animals with higher intelligence so they can function as a party member. Will this happen? It’s certainly technically possible…

Crafting

In a continued move towards more MMO like crafting approaches, and based on the success of other games in this regard, we can expect an increase in crafting options. Expect the ability to break items & equipment down into constituent parts and, in addition to “enchanting” and “sharpening”, more complex recipe like functionality for a wider range of consumables and equipment. Looking at the ability to create a “Blessed Flaming Ebony Sword of Swiftness”, etc. To further enrich this we could see a move towards item specific experience / “leveling” leading to something like a “Venerable Deadly Blessed Flaming Ebony Sword of Swiftness”… luckily we can also very much expect to retain the ability to rename all equipment and armour!

Oi! You! Wanna fight?! I’ll mace ya from here to… (wait)… Oblivion!

Combat and Magic

Combat will be moved on to the next level. Beyond the huge progress being made game to game already in this regard there exists the possibility for a step change here. The concept that you can be a master with a one handed sword but an idiot with a two handed one just makes no sense. Expect skills and abilities to be more closely and subtly intertwined. But with the new more varied behaviour of opponent’s AI you’ll need it. Not only that but expect “per item” skill progression as you “learn” each individual weapon. Did people swap weapons at will or keep their trusted blade in times gone by? Of course they kept their favourite weapon and became all the more adept with it. Yes they can use other weapons, but it’s never quite the same. The balance between “your weapon” and all others will be tweaked. Add to this motion control options and things get really exciting. defense and attack can be clearly communicated in so many ways the only limit is the flexibility of the combat engine, which will, of course, be improved significantly.

Magic will also see a revamp. Here is the single largest opportunity to do something really special with motion control. No more “A+B+X+Y+A+A” to freeze your opponent. In The Elder Scrolls 6 you can expect to get them in your sights and then blow on them strongly… or perhaps stamp on the ground to cause an earthquake, or push strongly towards them to knock them back with a gust of wind… and breathing fire? Well, expect that to be by intuitively breathing fire! The possibilities here are endless and allow for a massively improved sense of cause and effect. You will “feel” like you really are deploying your skills all the more directly.

Summary

Of course this is only a tiny flavour of what we might be seeing in The Elder Scrolls 6, some of the possible ways Bethesda could go, so what would you like to see? What have you been longing to do in the world of The Elder Scrolls?

I like games, more specifically achievements, I'm like a gaming boy scout... I like my badges. Oh, and I also like; story telling, well realised characters, character progression, complex skill sets, shiny graphics, building things, shooting things, jumping over things, hiding from things, driving things and fighting things. Sometimes I even write about these things, sorry...

95 Comments:

I love the series! I will be happy to go where ever they chose and they still have so many options in that regard. However, they need to work on character interactions and details. All that freedom, all those beautiful battles and all I get is someone by way of a purchased necklace who tells me over and over they will cook me another meal tomorrow. Most characters are so low affect, it hurts! I would love to rule a keep and fight to save it, marry someone in power, have staffs that are visually appealing/personalized which enhance my magic, and they could use way more creativity in the “mage” department (robes, staffs, spells, accessories). I want to build an empire and rival the “gods!” Just for giggles….would love to personalize my empire and home. I have all these dragon claws and no where to put them where they don’t jump off a table while I’m away! BUT, I have a bard that sings the same two songs…lol! (Not everyone plays on PC with mods, so they need to focus on some details!) They have to know that people will replay using different races and decisions, so details will keep it fresh for the long term players! Bring on Elder Scrolls 6 and bring on the details!

wow a lot of thoughts through the months here cool–hope bethesda is reading— one thought i had on spells — could be from the use of certain skills– what about finding a lost fragile book long forgotten and you have to translate it- to help you attain some unusual spell of destruction or summoning maby even needing to cast a spell restore to bring the book to full health becouse its been lying there 100 years to long ..to attain a spell or skill for higher spells . when playing deus ex human revolution you see people cooking would be nice to see your charector walk down a city street seeing open markets selling there wares then seeing a eatery you walk inside and see the chef of the day cooking some food over a fire. nothing wrong seeing traveling entertainment — in skyrim i helped a court jester well how about seeing a group come into town doing a show …some of the circus might know some things on dodging maby to help you with a skill- the master of disguise may be needed to escape the town guard if you were caught. how about trying to be a knight and having a joust competition? ah ideas!

I think they should have spears in it and also use fishing rods and have your own boat and I’m not talking about a small boat I mean a really big one like the emporer’s boat and I think we should be able to travel to different country’s and continents and I think we should also be able to play instruments and have our own kids instead of adopting them and of course start off as baby’s not like 10 or 11 year old kids.

I love the ideas that’s been given. I’m already shivering with excitement. Skyrim was phenomenal. And now elder scrolls 6 will be coming out?! Oh lord. There are a lot of things Bethesda could have done with skyrim to improve it. But as a counsel player I would live to see some multiplayer action. And possibly having your character have needs. Example, they meet to eat like actual people, and they need sleep. Honestly it’s something so simple that makes a big difference. In skyrim you can walk across the entire map without showing the slightest bit of fatigue It’s so unrealistic, and just simply making it so you can’t go on without rest would make the game all the more challenging and entertaining. Instead of making most of the main quests underground, make them above ground so you can admire the beauty of the map. And that’s all I have.

I would like to see an upgraded ‘family aspect’ to the game. Hearthfire was definitely a big step in regards to this, and an indication of Bethesda’s growing focus on this. I want to see even more customizing abilities for houses, maybe even to the extent of Minecraft where you build the house board by board and wherever you want (there would be some limits to location, of course). It would be cool to have a wide selection of pets, adoptable (or conceptional, as in you or your wife has them) children, and spouses. Imagine having a large estate with with walls around it, and guest houses and servant houses are about the campus, along with a main house. Visualize children running around with your dogs/cats/whatever pets you have, a manmade pond in the corner, vegetable gardens, aesthetic gardens, a separate greenhouse building or armory (not attached to the main house), your own inn or tavern in the city or on the estate premises, a wide selection of bards, cooks, and servants who you can befriend, talk to, and pay. Imagine having to feed your kids (good use of food, anyone?) or treat them using medicines if they fall ill. Imagine returning from quests with toys or treasures to give to your kids and wife/husband (who each have their own personalities, i.e. one son likes reading, so you give him a book, and your daughter likes experimenting with enchanting, so you give her a petty soul gem, and your spouse likes jewelry, so you give him or her a necklace or ring.) Your character goes to bed, and after the time lapse when he wakes up, you walk downstairs and see your spouse already up with your kids, eating or sitting at the dining room, and the chefs are in the kitchen cooking. You can interact with them and they’ll say something different each day (It may repeat sometimes), like what they’re going to do that they (and then they actually do it). You can walk outside and go to the forge to work for a little while before it starts to rain, and you go back to the main house. Then you might go to the stables for a ride in the rain or to go on some urgent quest, and return a while later to the appropriately joyful or excited reactions of your servants, spouse, and children. Of course, you and some hired watchmen might have to fight a few bandits off every once in a while (reasonably spaced incidents), but maybe you can also invite or have company. Now I’m not saying characters should live like kings, because that may be a bit excessive and hard to reason lore-wise (unless Bethesda makes you a king or jarl in-game, which I doubt they’d do), but (with the use of building limits), players can build unique houses and live like higher society/nobility in reasonably sized but large estates.

Should be as fable that can enlist more than 1 or 2 mercenaries.
(fable 1) and to have those types of spells that are strophic * – * as a sword altareal etc..
And in creating characters you can raise or lower the height, do it xD fat or thin.

I think that a new item customization engine would be fantastic!! I hate how my armor looks like everybody else’s armor, I mean why not make it to where you can pick and choose certain aspects from different armors, weapons, etc. to create and truly personalize your characters appearance. I would also like to see the setting maybe move to another continent (maybe one that has never been mentioned before) with all new races, factions, etc.. With this however, it would also be outstanding if you could go back to certain parts of Marrowind or Tamriel like with the Dragonborn DLC and Solsthiem. Moving around however seems to be one thing that people converse about and with good reason. I also believe that Bathesda should invest in new was of transportation from teleportation spells, new mounts, flying, or even a spell that makes you run like Sonic the Hedgehog. I would also love the computer based dialog because you could more accurately group accents of different races and different parts of the “world”. And being able to start out based on race, faction, or even game preference would be amazing!!!! Bathesda- please keep up your “unfailing” decade track record!! Listen to your humble followers and DELIVER THE GAME WE KNOW YOU CAN PROVIDE!!!!!!!!

Loads of great ideas here. I think for a plot you could be a regular imperial soldier. War has broken out between the empire and the thalmor. The thalmor have been winning so far and have pushed into outer territories like skyrim. As a regular soldier you saw you were losing so you deserted. You get kidnapped by the calmer because like enthir said raids have been increasing. As your down underground inthis prison out of nowhere an army of deemed springs out and rescues you. The rest of the story could be you influencing the deemed to support one side or the other. Then you fight out a war against the enemy. This would totally fit in with things like the engineering tree and designing your own weapons along with channeling the power of the gods because that is what the deemed were looking for. I also think naval battles like in assassins creed 3 would be epic. If this happens ill be one happy camper

Skyrim Elder Scrolls V is a great game and i love playing it. I do have my opinion on changes that can make the game better. I think that at the beginning you should have more creatures to choose from. Also if turned into a vampire it should be able to be cured by a shrine or some sort because vampirism is a disease. Also a control concern. I think that when you are fighting and a kill move is performed you should have more control over when that can happen. Maybe like a staatus bar to show your progress and when full use the control and preform it. Also mabye more kill move options for each weapon. Especially if your gonna kill a dragon like a decapatating kill move. I have tons more but for now im looking forward to getting addicted to this new game!

Ahhh if we could have it all.. Love all of the ideas guys. Alot of it agree with. I really like the taming animals aspect. It could almost be a skill tree in its own right . For ex. Perks could be how successful you are at it, what types you are able to tame, skill sets of pets and more.
– totally agree with having more dynamic NPC evolvement ( loved the red dead mention on how it should be) i would even take a cut in how many different followers i have to select from if i could actually care about the ones that are there
-the biggest thing i want to see and is very easily done is having more unique weopons and armor. I want weapons that cant be made, that look nothing like any other, that have enchantments that cant be made ( yes i horde)
– more on the unique weapons . More options when smithing in crafting . Give me tons of different materials that can make a weapon… Like certain type of handle + certain metal + certain style + certain stones or add ons . Yeah
-id love to see a spear wielding class type added ( imagine being a spartan type warrior being able to keep enemies at distance with your 7 to 8 foot of reach)
-Make everything seem more important ! There were too many times when i completed an amazing in world feat and the mission was just done. No one seemed to care. It just ended . Give it more passion
( bigger rewards for completing great feats . They would totally give me my own hold if i liberated a whole province)
– arena battles are awesomely fun bring it back
-id love to see speed be upgrade able , let me be able to be faster than base speed
-more options for house building ( hearthfire)
-i think a big thing missing from. Main story lines of the game are more interesting bad guys , yeah i get it. Some bad guy is unlocking an ancient power, but make them some one i can somewhat sympathize with

As far as story goes , so open , but i love the idea of having a back story for your character , im tired of being some name less prisoner

I would like to see more branching story lines where if you choose to go in one direction another is no longer an option. If there are enough of these choices that have to be made, replay value would be awesome.

Can I just say the mounts idea is inspired Kiana! That would make it an awesome way of furthering development. I’m thinking the “zoo” concept from Guild Wars 1 here… build up a zoo of mounts based on those you have “tamed”. No quite sure how a “taming” mechanic would work mind, but it should be tricky to ensure it feels rewarding. Then they could maybe level with you or something? Again, think pets in Guild Wars 1?
I also agree with both you and allyoop9118 that adding depth to character backgrounds / conversations and more subtle / extended / complex “romance” system would be a big improvement. The whole “Here have a necklace -> I’m yours forever!” mechanic was better than nothing, but further development here would be really, really engaging.

Allyoop9118 I completely agree wil everything you said, I would be extactic if they did something about love interests, and making backstories for most of the characters, Plus by my own words I wish they would do something about followers, Lydia does get a lil’ annoying espically her always sounding so bored by saying ” i am sworn to carry your burdens” Ugh! She can really be a downer. As many other fellow ES fans say above me, I would like a buildng a house option and stuff like more speech qualities with NPCs, Getting rid of People Like: Ysolda (im sure she means well but shes a bit… Too interested in Khajiits *Cough, Cough* Moon sugar) nazeem and cicero. Almost the ability to have different mounts, like ‘going into a pokemonish theme here but,’ maybe if you get a creature down to so much health left you can finish them but then you throw a saddle on them and theyre your mount or some method like that.

Probably my favorite game next to Skyrim would have to be Red Dead Redemption. It’s not necessarily because of gameplay but I was so impressed by the dialogue and the overall story line. I loved how you’d travel with a companion or a friend and have entire conversations. I think Skyrim needs a little of that from Rockstar, I mean Aela LOOKS cool and all but what about her life? Where did she come from? How does she feel about our mission? I just think the entire game would be improved if there was more dialogue between you’re character and the world around them.

I hated the marriage part too. So I give some dude and amulet and now we’re married and living together? Maybe since I’m a girl, I want it to be a bit more romantic than that but it seems like there should have been WAY more too it. Plus, I was not impressed with the options for eligible bacholers.

And for God’s sake, let’s improve the horses for Elder Scrolls VI…lol.

My biggest gripe about Skyrim was only the fact that it wasn’t personal at all and I would have liked to have seen my character develop friendships and perhaps a love interest. Again, that’s probably the ONLY reason why Red Dead Redemption is the first on the list.

Some Epic ideas from loads of people here, i pray Bethesda will reading these. Even if they implement a few things from this list for future DLC or Sequel it would be legendary. My favorite being the Aldmeri Dominion Vs The Empire battle! I bet so many people would love to sink their weapons into the smug faces of the Thalmor. It would be a battle to end all battles and may even lead to the forcing of Akatosh’s Intervention. Letting a player choose a side in that would be interesting, because not all agree with the Empire’s diplomatic methods and some would even like to follow the Thalmor. Either choice having alternative endings. It would also be great to shift about the balance of power within the realm of the Divines, and/or a corruption within it such as a Daedra coholition! And a shock return of the Dwemer in a scale-tipping alliance with either side!

Bethesda have never let me down before cannot wait for what they give us next.

The next dlc, supposedly, is about the snow elves and dwarves, while the fifth will be about choosing a new High King of Skyrim and beginning a war with the Thalmor. That would be perfect for leading directly into the next game, which should be called The Elder Scrolls VI: Dominion, and take place in Valenwood, Elsewyr, and the Summerset Isles. Supposedly it’ll be next-gen, so a detailed map with maritime stuff (Summerset is 2 islands after all) and 3 provinces should work out. The storyline should be about how 5-10 years after Skyrim, the war with the Thalmor became a 2nd Great War. They could say that the Emperor died (if you did DB quests you know this could cause a problem with the next game) and that the Stormcloak rebellion died down to join with the Empire, Hammerfell, and High Rock to battle the Aldmeri Dominion. Led by Harald, bastard son of Ulfric Stormcloak, the alliance could have invaded the Dominion, and you start the game off as a prisoner of the Thalmor. Then the main quest could be about the war and stuff, and you could pick sides and all that, you know? Also, the jungles of Valenwood and the ruined cities and deserts of Elsweyr, combined with sea-travel and the ancient cities of Summerset could really make this the best game in the series, if Bethesda does it right. I would say mid to late 2015 as the earliest release date for this game, since this could take a while. But there should be minimal daedric stuff in the next two dlcs and in Dominion (if that’s its name). The Daedra are overrated and overused. I think that it’s time to bring in some real gods (Alduin and the Daedra don’t count).

@Thalmorslayer; I hope Bethesda are listening, because I love the sound of all that!! I think you’ve done their job for them!! You could spend the first half of ES6 disrupting the Thalmor’s plans deep behind enemy lines, and the second half helping prepare the Alliance (as we shall now call it. ) for the final battle. Climaxing in leading your amassed troops & resources (Siege weapons, trolls & maybe a dragon?) from the front in a small part of the final battle, helping to swing the fight in favour of the Alliance.

I think that they need to have 5x as many spells as there were in skyrim. Especially the conjuration spells because for each skill level there were only like 5 spells. Also it would be really cool if dual cast would actually combine two different spells.

It is too bad that I have made the decision to boycott Bethesda Studios in all future purchases. I would have loved to play this game, but I cannot in good conscience support a company that feels like it has to play stupid lawyer tricks to succeed. They should have just stuck to making great games and saved money on their lawyers. I for one will not be trying this game in my home even if they give it away or pay me to play it.

I don’t really care where the next game takes us, but wherever it is I have a few requests for what’s in it. *A warning to hardcore Skyrim fans* – most of my requests are branched off from what I didn’t like about Skyrim.

–

1) Contrast in environment; in Oblivion, you frequently traveled to different worlds getting to experience everything from the hellish Oblivion wastes, to the lush Cyrodilic woodlands, Mankar Camoran’s Paradise, a sleeping mage’s dream, and even the inside of a painting. Don’t get me wrong, I loved exploring Skyrim’s world, (travelling to Sovngarde was fairly epic) but once I’d explored everything it all started to look the same. Excluding the area around Riften and the polar ice caps in the far north, I felt like there wasn’t much diversity in environment between one end of the map and the other. Even the cities all looked the same. So please, take us to unique places.

2) Voice acting; after playing Shivering Isles I wasn’t that impressed with the voice acting in Skyrim. I noticed that there were more voices, but they all either said the same thing over and over again, or had embarrassingly bad accents. Please hire less voice actors, but invest in voices that are distinctive and actually good.

3) Characterization; I know some people could care less about getting to know their companions, but for those of us that do it was a disappointment to learn that you couldn’t get to know more about the people who followed you around, carried your stuff, fought dragons with you, and flipping helped you save the world! Companions in Skyrim weren’t nearly as unique as they were in Oblivion or Shivering Isles, not seeming to have personalities or back stories. I was especially disappointed that you couldn’t have any distinct characters from the Thieves Guild as companions, because this is where the most interesting characters were. I’m not expecting anything like Dragon Age Origins, but it would be realistic and meaningful if you could at the very least get to know your spouse.

4) Story and world development; Guild story lines seem to move too fast in Skyrim. In Morrowind you’re treated like crap when you’re first starting out; there are many guild ranks and in the beginning you take orders from the lowest ranked people in the guild. You do the smallest of quests, and it takes forever to prove yourself. When you finally do, you’re trusted enough to contribute to the main issue of the guild and you still slowly advance. This is more realistic than the guild advancement in Skyrim, and I think it’s something that the next elder scroll game needs to revert back to.
– The Civil War sucked. It didn’t matter which side you picked – both had the same bland storyline. The Altmeri Dominion didn’t seem to get involved even though they were responsible for the civil war in the first place; there were no assassination attempts or information leaks via spies that you would expect in a war; there were no consequences or unique bonuses for achieving your goals; npc’s talk about the civil war being inconvenient but your introduction to the game excluded, you’re never given any clear example as why you should choose one side or the other; if you never start the civil war story line, it doesn’t impact your game at all because the civil war doesn’t inconvenience your character in any way. Unrealistic much? If there is a war in the next game, please make it feel more like a war.
– And please, in the next game, let our actions have impact. Nothing you do in Skyrim matters; when you do the main quest no one acknowledges that you’re the Dragonborn, or that you saved the world – when you complete the civil war, people seem to still complain about that pesky war.

5)Dcl and Modding; one major complaint I had about Skyrim is that there wasn’t enough climax/reward/resolution when completing both the main quest and the civil war, and after it was all over I was left feeling empty and expecting more – aka good downloadable content. Dcl and modding are really awesome, but they’re also examples of the fact that the game isn’t as good as it could be. If your game needs add-ons in order to make the game complete, then that should be an obvious sign that the game wasn’t very good from the start. I know it brings in good money to have dcl, but is it worth releasing an incomplete game?

6) The little things.
– Bandits; when you have a really high bounty on your head I think you should have the option of becoming one and joining a bandit group, almost like a guild.
– If your character has the option of becoming a bard, they should be able to play music in pubs for coin; and please give them more than two songs to play.
– Attacking from horses, the fact that you can’t do this makes horse travel kind of tedious.
– Better hair options; I don’t know why, but in Bethesda character creation, their hair choices always suck with only one or two exceptions (Skyrim has done the best job so far at character creation).
– More unique features, such as weapons and armor, and perhaps more unique animals.
– It would be cool to have game-mode where you need to eat and sleep to survive (like Fallout’s hardcore mode) it would make people feel less like they’re ‘playing house’ when they actually do eat and sleep.
– Being able to attack underwater would be nice.
– Bring back weapon and armor damage and repair, so that when your blacksmith skills are maxed out you still have stuff to do.
– Clans, similar to bandits there should be vampire and werewolf clans that live remotely outside cities.
– Bounty hunting, I think it would make sense for there should be some kind of bounty hunters guild to track down people who have broken the law and made a run for it.

Theres a bunch of unresolved story plots from Skyrim that are begging to be either DLC or their own game.

1) Those high elf jerks. Seriously DLC #1 should have been set exactly after the civil war was won or lost with everyone marching on wherever you gotta march on to mess up some high elfs.

2) Dwemer! We still dont know what happened to the dwemer, except they left a bunch of bitter twisted falmer behind. Whatever the case is, the answer should acompany a return. Steampunk dwarfs, who are trying to ascend to the gods, what could possibly go wrong!

3) What happens to the empire after the dark brotherhood do a certian bad deed at the end of skyrim.

4) And with the return of the dragon born. Doesn’t this mean that by right, our hero was the true birthright king of all tamriel?

@All: Amazing feedback guys & gals, really clever, true and creative. A few of my thoughts;
– More extensive guilds would be awesome, along the lines of the thieves, assassins, mages and werewolf guilds we got in Skyrim, but even more rounded out with a few more and extended story-lines and crafting / companion / quest and base options.
– Siege warfare would be awesome, I mean to see it happen, influence it properly, particularly if set in the context of civil war etc.
– Hearth fire is excellent, but this should be in the base game and expended to be a fort / castle so you can resolve civilian disputes, manage resources, marshal defenses, etc.
– Less annoying, better developed NPC companions / characters. I think the solution here is for more companion generated quests and better background / family for them.
– Agree the end game felt a little anti-climactic. Could have been a bit more “epic” / special.
– I particularly like the defense mod also, a great new spin on the game.
Can’t wait for ES6 to see what we’ll actually get!

Anyone seen the mod tundra defense? That dude needs to join the bethesda team, Implementing what he does professionally would be a great bonus to the series and extend gameplay a lot, especially if you mix it with the heartfire dlc and build around ur home. Anyways check that mod if u play on PC and if you don’t well enjoy consoles while they last. Pip pip cheerio and whatnot console players [have fun ps3, oh and xbox you’ll get urs :)] lol I actually love xbox just hate exlusive deals with microsoft

Alright Nickodeemuss i like some of those ideas. I agree the civil totally sucked in skyrim. They could have capitalized on long, large seige battles of cities, and castles that affected those regions for a period of time until the player or the legion/stormcloaks managed to defeat or repell an attack. I thought Id be able to storm the walls of windhelm but was let down when I found out the gates were open lol. Broke my heart </3. I think the conflict with the thalmore needs a major expansion, like twice the size of dawnguard. Long term battels either defneding skyrim or key points in cyrodil or other places the empire has influece. I do not want them opening up a new province in a DLC related to the thalmore because this will take away from things like seiges and large scale battles. If they made that the focus imagine the size of battels and the stories. I Would however like to go to morrowind but and see what is left of the province, this would be another fantastic idea for a dlc.
I dont really care much about the whole family thing because on PC anyone can go in and make a companion marriagable, its relatively simple. But I want characters I care about, I want people who you build up a relationship with or get to know and then they die, or betray you. Like in halo 3 sgt. Johnson dies, I read all the halo books and when he died I was even more devasted because I felt like I knew the guy for years (lame but deal with it). And then he was always there in the halo games. If Bethesda expanded on campanions even to the extend that they had some personality like in fallout new vegas i could live with that but I feel completely alone in this supposedly alive world. No one has any personality!!1

And in TES 6 THEY BETTER HAVE BETTER GUILDS!!!!!!!!!!! Bring back the mages guild!! I enjoyed that more than the main quest in oblivion lol.
And I know you said you didnt like the base thing, or thats how i interpreted it. I think a base to call your own is something of a necessity because who ever the hero is over all the TES games they beome a more important and influental figure. You need either a castle and soldiers to be ordered around, or at least a plot of land with a village to interact with that the player can significantly influence its wealth, and development. Especially in its defence and growth.
And yes we all agree load times suck but Il live through load times If they give us better guilds, maybe some brighter color like in TES4 and a few other things that I dont care to mention again from all my prior messages I will be more than satisfied with the next game. Hopefully the empire will be restored to its former glory by TES6

Dude, when I think of the Elder Scrolls I just want to game. Like being completely immersed in a great book, only this book I get to choose how I go about my objectives. I don’t see how movement interaction creates a better product here, in fact, I won’t buy it if that is the case. I want to game on an imaginary plateau, not play DDR with the wife, of WI Baseball with the kids. HORRIBLE idea!

Now then, assuming that the prospective ES6 is not child’s play, I would love to see a few different things:
1) When can we see war break out between states? This content seems to always be defending itself against an extraordinary nemesis. I want to take my Nord butt to Morrowind and wreak havoc on some elves! Opening the doors for national politically driven wars opens an entirely new dynamic method of game player immersion. (the civil war in Skyrim is bland, and B rated).
2) Bring back the Levitate spell! Nothing sucks worse than falling in a tight crevasse on an annoying mountain and having to reload to get out. It was easy to cheat with levitate in Morrowind, but if the game designers simply make levitate really only levitate (6 ft or so/2M for the Brits), and not all out FLY, it would be a useful too that is not easily abused.
3) Allow me to create a REAL base of operations much earlier in the game. I understand about character evolvement and storyline progression, but having MY OWN home\hideout away from any cities, and level dependent full upgradability (i.e. earning a chest, bed, forge, workbench, stone, enchanter, and alchemy lab) makes so much more sense than owning three homes in three different cities, along with managing every guild out there and having my own quarters therein. Keep it simple, give me a home! Oddly enuf, this idea plays right into a continental war…this land is my land…
4) Can we get some enemies whose level and aggression depend on my level? The first time I ever played Oblivion (PC) I was killed by the skeever in the escape tunnels, and more than once, until I was fed up and put the difficultly on “easy.” Is there a way to make enemies level ratio the players level? For instance, Skeever = 0.028 of player level, Bandit = 0.5, Bandit Boss = 1.0, Snow Troll = 2.5, etc, etc. This would keep the game interesting even after maxing out my player.
5) Wishful thinking here: eliminate load times!?!?! Yeah yeah, new consoles and technology make things run “so much faster”, but then the game gurus know how much more they have to play with, and the end result is ALWAYS, a better game, with annoyingly long load times. I remember when Sony promised that PS2 was the end of all load screens, and then I played Tony Hawk Underground…
If you read this, hit me up and let me know if you agree, or if Im an idiot. Im a 31 year old nerd who gets his fix off of the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, and the Elder Scrolls games. I cant hang with the new generation of nerds, but I gotta have my ES!

Dev I really like your ideas. Sometimes its fun to think of hey what if I was in the rank and file, and not the most important dude in the world. As long as you can invest in your character and the characters they put around you the RPG could be an amazing game. anyways some good ideas with the ship. Id like that for lack of a better name itd be a place to keep the player rooted, or grounded and invest them in the game, and those onboard. Gotta make the player care, no better way to do that than with a ship, customizable and say a crew that are companions that have their own personality and maybe even a few have stories or need help etc. anyways bethesda invest the player more than in skyrim!! it felt full of empty shells not people. why would the player care about saving a world he doesnt really have nynone he likes in.

I personally like all those suggestions. I played skyrim for about 230ish hours due to mods and an utter lack of anything signifigant to do. besides the point. I want them to go back to an oblivionesk style game. It was not cheerful, but colourful, uhm bright, i found skyrim a dull grey. ruined my whole experience I cant even play the game because that horrible grey cloud over TESV is painful to look at. Seems like a shitty version of the fallout colour scheem. I put around 3200 hours into oblivion most of that without mods. I loved the feel of being a warrior with sword/shield saving the world from a demon, but dragons to me a story book and fairy tale-ish. If i can kill a god dragon why am i so unimportant. Why do I hold no land, no title of signifigance. No memorable characters in the game to speak of. No epic jaw dropping moments. well at least not for me. I found the landscape horrid and the factions utterly emotionless. I felt i had to side with the empire as it was the only faction that could stand against the “dasdardly elves”. I like that the empire i loved in oblivion was ripped away from me but I hate the way all factions were portrayed, not to mention some of the cities seem to be clearly ripped righto out of other medieval sci-fi stories. I found the world underpopulated. Oblivion felt like the perfect mix of loss, due to the hero losing kvatch, and other main characters and other important ponit throughout the campaigne. In oblivion I was devastated when I was unable to save baurus/Jauffre in the battle of Bruma. But i would have killed any of the main characters in Skyrim because they were unpleasant to have around and were completely empty characters. Didnt give 2sh*ts about anyone I cant even remember their names. If TES6 doesnt give me some reason to get attached to characters, places, factions, or something worth fighting for It will be doing the series a major deservice. Im not saying I didnt like skyrim but with just a little more nurturing by making the player invest in companions or main characters I felt what was the point. Oh and dragons sucked, there was simply to many. far to easy to kill. Should take the Hero and an entire city guard so they must be ran from in the wilderness. but no I swing my upgraded enchanted sword and off with its head after a swing or two.

Sorry for ragging so hard, but oblivion is the best game i ever played and I found skyrim unbearable to play for any long term. When I get a real RPG i play it for everything it has to offer in multiple play throughs. Just wish skyrim wasn’t so linear. They really backtracked in my opinion going from fighting a demon-God to killing a glorified dragon in the *dreamworld ‘Fade’ lolz. Oblivion just did everything so right.

I think game mechanics similar to Assassins Creed (The climbing and environment interaction) would make the thief/assassin class feel so much more real. I also think the climbing should extend not only to inanimate objects like trees, but also to living things. It would be awesome if you could climb onto a mammoth or dragon and shoot it with arrows just like Legolas, or perhaps get on a giants back and stab him while he’s disoriented.
I also think that attacks should be physically “solid”. What I mean is, if two swords are swinging right at each other, they will hit each other and bounce back instead of going through each other and dealing damage. (That might be a bit TOO difficult to animate though..)

To sum it up, I think the one thing Elder Scrolls needs is more organic motions and animation like climbing, rolling, and dodging. To make ES7 the most amazing game ever, Bethesda should combine Dark Soul’s combat, Assassin’s Creed’s interaction, and Elder Scrolls stories and environments.

What I’d want to see in the elder scrolls 6 is the option of turning the quest marker off. Sometimes I want to figure things out based on the info the NPC gives me, or on a journal, etc, etc, and how about the ability to throw your weapons? Now, one thing I HATED about skyrim is the lack of different spells like in oblivion… You know what I mean.

I like all the ideas that is said in the blog, however i do like the idea of creating a character and YOU are that character, make it realistic, maybe choose where you want your role in the world to be for example being an everyday soldier, or a farmer or a black smith etc.. and not to just do simple jobs with a point and click finish, but actually care for the animals, plant food of different types and work the equipment to have purpose for what you doing, sure its cool to be the hero and save the world, but what if you just wanted to be a king, or a priest or a modern person?

I also feel like we need a new map layout, were in one particular country, what about other countries? skyrim is just a province right? so what about other countries and their provinces? or territories? I wanna see new things more freedom, to really put adventure into the elder scrolls, maybe it wont happen for the 6th part of the series but i say have a seperate group of game designers and writers and create a new country maybe one with a deep jungle and tall grass, somewhere where you can barely see the sky from all the trees and huge roots etc, or a valcanic landscape, heck why not make one province as a part out in the ocean (near land mass) and give us abilities to purchase/customize ships of our own, I’m talking epic ship battle against sea monsters and maybe even dragons if they so wanted. sure dragons are cool, but adventure is so limited with just dragons, wheres other main mystic creatures? heck, I may just go job searching at bethesda and make them a written storyline of the century.

I’m just a strong believer in adventure and freedom with in games and I dont know if bethesda even fully seas what they are capeable of? with what i saw on the new “elder scrolls online” it looks like their going backwards, stop going backwards and lets move forward!

Damn you guys are so cool with these ideas. So let me add some more of my own. I would love Dwarves. Racial benefit of immunity to magic. Racial negative no magical ability at all. Small pocket of them found still alive in a ruins.
I would love to see an Engineering skilltree. Right to do these primitive steampunk items. No guns but mines, grenades, strength, stamina or speed producing armors that need no soul gems to make and at the top of the tree, vehicles such as MechHorse or Self Pushing Cart or Cliff Grabbing Spider. Stuff to help get around but I think flying machines to be asking for something to take you out of the experience.
I like skyrim so much. I see it improving regardless.
Another skill could be Carpentry. No laughing, ok? Seriously, building carts, shacks and eventually houses. Why chop wood needlessly?

Concerning the time frame: It seems that the Elder Scrolls series has been marching ever onwards. If you’ve followed it all, and maybe even enjoyed reading many of the books like myself (really, there is some suprisingly good writing in the series, especially when it comes to plot twists like that seen in the “Palla” books), you’d see that the plot lines have complemented each other heavily. Different things, interesting things, are discovered in each title. I remember the buzz about The Voice being implemented in Skyrim, and while I was excited too, I wasn’t really surprised, because of in-game books I had read on Nordic shouting, while playing Oblivion and Morrowind.

While that whole plot curve has been really cool, I think that taking this kind of a direction would be very inspired and it would excite fans: Go back in time, this time around. By that I mean way back. Who doesn’t want to play through some of the stuff in the books like the Allesian campaign, or when the Dunmer became Dunmer? How about the mystery of the Dwemer? Why not even play a Dwemer character? There are so many head scratchers and exciting aspects of the Elder Scrolls universe that haven’t been touched much by the game. Think of dreughs ruling Tamriel, the 500 Companions taking Skyrim from the Elves, etc. There is so much great plot material that they’ve already developed, like grade-A imaginative stuff (more interesting than a lot of fantasy novels I’ve read).

Basically: They’ve covered quite a bit of ground that hasn’t been played through. Why make more? I’ve been itching to see and play through a lot of this stuff, because of the quality of the writing.

OK luke, you definately take the title of history master… expect a job offer in the post from ZeniMax! With The Elder Scroll Online confirmed to be set 1,000 years before Skyrim I’m sure we’ll get plenty of opportunity to enjoy some proper Tamriel history! I wouldn’t be suprised if we don’t get some form of “Flashback” DLC / expansions for it post-launch… as you say so much rich history to make use of…

i loved skyrim, was never a big games fan, but i got side and my friend said i should give it ago, now i cant stop playing it, all the ideas that i have seen are great
things which i would like to see in ES6 would be

-starting off as a teenager, growing up, and having your own family. going to schools to learn different skills, like magic, fighting etc

– building your own home would be great, in skyrim i liked the housing but where they where the where and the layout i didn’t like that, so being able to set the number off rooms, walls, windows, fireplaces and the stuff you have in the house, beds tables and chair, also where you would put them and where your home is

– pets, like in skyrim, war dogs went back to where you got them and not to your home, didnt like that, so able to buy them, train them and still have them go back home when you tell them to.

-different wild life, and more off it, like deer in big groups, wolfs in packs and more water life, sea monsters, big birds, new wild live, both friendly and not so friendly

-have kids is a big thing

-become king, for jarl, or leaders off different groups, kind off like the leader off the stormcloaks

also when you start a new game, if you have a saved game from ES5 you are the son/daughter off you first character

just some idea’s which i no will not happen but you never no who might look at this page

Great stuff Chrissyfar, Loving the idea you could be your character from the previous game’s child… that’s a great way of linking the experiences together and a excellent mechanism to maybe allow for limited transport of earnt resources as well.
Properly working pets would be a huge plus for me, the ability to “send home” being a great way to manage them, would be cool to come back from battle and find them cureld up by the fire / guarding your door!
Whilst I liked the wildlife in 5, I think “flocking” / “herding” would be great, a much better way to get a feeling of living in a “real” world. You’ve inspired me to think of real flocks of birds, moving together, that would bring a real sense of scale to things. Also the “herd” or deer would be fantastic, I can imagine a moment where you are surrounded by them as they flee from a giant or something, kind of like that moment in Jurrassic Park, it would really add to the tension…
Seems like “build-a-home” continues to be a big crowd-pleaser, hopefully we’ll get it, or something approaching it in ES6!

Garlic, that has to go on the list, not just “hovering” flight, but some sort of actual flight mechannic would be awesome. Possibilities here are many, ability to interact with combat from this form of transport would be really cool, drop some fireballs (or arrows) on your foes from above etc… surely they could use the exisiting dragon flight mechnanic as a base?

Well, Dragonkisser, let us truly dream; shall we?
I would love ES6 to actually be all regions. I mean mother of God, could you imagine a quest to unite all the lands? It would be a simply massive undertaking.

Agreed Ebouc, but could the “unite the nations” goal be something for “Elder Scrolls Online”? I can see this happening… I would love to see more variety of terrain / environment… so I agree with Dragonkisser there… interesting ideas, I’ll be fascinated to see what happens with this franchise next…

Skyrim:Elder Scrolls 5 is one of the best game I ever play on xbox 360 since that game is 10 times better than Oblivion:Elder Scrolls 4. I have an idea about the Elder Scrolls 6. The gamedesigner should have Valenwood, Elsweyr, Summerset Isle and Cyridil including Morrowind and Black marsh as provinces for a character to explore like a character needs a high enough level to unlock those provinces and use Valenwood and Summerset Isle as a starting provinces for beginning of the game then once a character reaches a high enough level can unlock the next provinces Elsweyr, Cyridili, Black marsh and Morrowind the last to unlock. they should also add other animals in this game Elder Scrolls 6 like dolphins, whales, tigers and animals like that. Also they should add pranking spells for a character to use for pulling pranks on enemies and other characters in this game good luck!!!

Rax…I don’t much think the engine needs overhauling. I see it handling just plain skins easily enough.
That Spell creation idea though might need some serious work. In Morrowind I remember making a flight spell that took a lot of challenge out of travel but a lot of fun as well. So what we ask may be a double edge sword.
I really like Skyrims challenge as it is.

Wow, wonderful board of ideas. So to tweak what others have said and add my own thoughts.
Magic- Morrowind actually had spell creation as a possibility. So I propose a crafting table with a corresponding skill tree for said purpose. Ingredients would use soul gems and blank scrolls or ruined books and some perks on the skill tree could include the obvious novice through master levels, with perks for lowering spell costs to cast, increased power or better yet schools, like smithing, so to start you can make damage, then restore, and so on through all schools.
Combat- I agree with idea of more equipment needed and it could just be added to smithing. So if I make a dwarven sword, the system offers me a dozen designs to choose from. The hand to hand isn’t bad but if enemys start flanking you regularly, you would have to get a lot more smarter about how you approach.

@Ebouc – I like your “create a spell” process / approach, bringing disperate elements into the process would definately give it a more robust and satisfying feel, and relevant skill trees would be welcome. I think it would be cool to “group” skills into category trees (a bit like Kingdoms of Amalur, or The Witcher 2), this could clarify progression and bring in new bonus / reward options for developers to reward gamers in various ways (again Amalur’s “Destiny” unlock system could be perfect here). I would also welcome a lot more equipment variety, but there’d probably need to be an engine to drive it, say with “material”, “size”, “colour”, “finish”, “detailing” etc being something like slider options?

OK before anyone else says anything, think of HOW bethesda will do it. like climbing for example, sounds great but what, are we going to do it hand over hand?think about the controls and what buttons will need to be pressed. you cant just use the whole keyboard or have a controller with 100 different buttons to enable you to do crazy stuff like hand over hand rock climbing. it would take sssooooo long to add this stuff in and imagine the amount of lag even on a brand new platform or high performance pc. trying not to freak out but please just think about the final outcome and the effects that these suggestions may cause. all of these suggestions are pretty good but bethesdas team isnt composed of gods. it would be very diificult and time-consuming. but it would be awesome. would you rather have an amazing elder scrolls game come out in 20 years or so or have a one thats not quite as complex and awesome in 3 or 4 years?

@Derp – I hear what your saying, but combining good old ladder climbing, which has been around for ages, with something like the interactive jump & pull we see in games which deal with getting over walls and up ledges etc and I’m sure a serious game engine could cope. I’m thinking Mirror’s Edge meets Uncharted meets Assassin’s Creed or something like that, it’s possible to contrive a system that has boundries, but still feels a lot like climbing (remembering that in FPS you can’t see your own avatar). Make all trees function like ladders, except you can “rotate” around the trunk when climbing it, with each branch working like a horizontal “ledge” you can shimmy across. Now where these intersect you can transfer from tree to tree or tree to ledge etc, if your tree or wall has multiple branches / ledges within a certain degree of each other you can “jump” in that direction to access them (if they are close enough together you can just climb up / across.) Retain “free-look” during this process and you could apply it to trees / buildings / walls / cliffs all connecting to each other where their “ledges” / “branches” touch. This could be amazingly powerful. Now, getting an AI to use it is a whole different challenge. But for player characters I do believe it’s possible.

@Ealay NP!
Still LOVING the idea of posting things back and forth to characters / friends… should be “simple” in modern gaming terms and would give that social connectivity without ruining the single player experience… this would be SO awesome! Keep up the creative thinking!

Wow Ealay, I think we may be getting enough to also cover TES7 & 8!
I’m loving your thoughts on “practical” magic and using runes to enact it in the physical world. I also love going into people’s dreams / mystical planes / alternate dimensions / minds and having a complete change of scene to enjoy / battle in.
More dynamic combat movement would again, get my vote too, and I would LOVE to be able to post items back and forth between characters / players so I could help my buddies and get help from them! Great way to implement social play without killing balance and challenge…

Well, I had some ideas in mind that I’ll love to be on TES6:
-more use of runes, like writing sentences made of runes that will make something happen with different spells you can discover like shouts, for example using the words frost and explosion so when it’s interacted (step on it, use an activate spell, etc.) it’ll make a frost explosion, basically. Perhaps writing runes on a weapon, giving him that effect, or writing them on ppl, to make stuff like mind control ( ) or to turn someone into a mudcrab using morph and animal runes.
-More spells. Basically that’s the only thing we can ask for. More magic. Perhaps we can make our own. That can get quite awesome.
-Magic that can affect areas, such as changing weather, calling animals, setting up forests on fire, turning of the fire ( no one suggested it, so…) and way more.
-Something I always wanted – Forbidden magic. You can research it, but if caught not everyone will agree. And I’m talking about massive damage explosions, tunneling the power of gods, stealing someone else’s power, and much more.
-Evading. Yeah, evading. The best thing I can ask for. Being able to roll or dodge attacks is the first step in improving the combat system.
-Speaking of which, I’ve always thought that something that will really enhance the combat system is player stats. I don’t mean str, dex, int, luck. No. I mean real stats, like speed, strength(lol, forget I said str before), and stuff like that. I mean, maybe speed will actually role by making the others slower in combat, allowing you more chances to dodge an enemy attack and attack back.
-More illusions and well, . It may be really cool to try to get the solution.
-Speaking about illusions, I always hoped for something like mind fights. Which means you can trap someone in an illusion which will make him do your biddings, when fighting you from the inside, and getting out eventually, depends how you are good on that and on illusions. Maybe someone may use this on you, while you try to escape.
-Power of the name. Well, I really liked the way of the voice thing, it was quite awesome. BTW, I also hope it’ll be like the rune system I mentioned. But about the name thingy, perhaps there’ll be real names, that no one knows for every person. If you know someone’s name you can take complete control of him, and secret names of different things can also do that. For example, if the char learned the “spider” secret name, he may control spiders. Or maybe the name of fire, sea, tree and way more. And if you get to learn your own name, it’s a massive power up for you, as you are able to control all of your abilities perfectly.
-And the last thing I want to talk about is the multiplayer. I’ve always wanted to trade things or help one of my friends inside the game. And everything you can do together just adds. Maybe you won’t even go together, and it can be cool see how what he did affects the world. You might even fight. But I really hated the idea of split screen. It completely DESTROYS the gameplay when you both can see each other.
And now I’m done

List of things to add:
-The ability to climb
-More interactivity with your surroundings. (Like Cutting down trees)
-Being able to make things like camps
-More npc’s travelling between cities that you can rob etc
-More varied weapons (such as spears)
-More spells for mages (and the ability to create them)
-Able to design weapons and armors more
-More relationship oppertuinities (Training children sounds interseting)
-Access to powerful forbidden magic (such as necromancy in oblivion) where you will get a bounty if caught using it
-More varied enemies
-2 provencies that you need to travel by boat to travel between (valenwood and summerset isles)and could be attacked randomly by pirates.
-More npc’s in battles to make them seem more realistic
-Able to open shops etc
-Openworld online multiplayer (Nothing that would risk compremsing single player and not a competative one. Just so friends can go round together)

Most of these proberbly cannot be done just thought I would say. Will proberbly add more if I think of some.

Great list Sam, I’d certainly sign up to that as a manifesto!
Particularly like the idea of larger battles, that would go a long way to making it more epic… even if they used a mechanic similar to The Witcher 2, where you fight it out within a small “bubble” / bubbles inside a larger battle…
I’d also love boat travel, I always think this adds scale and a sense of time to any RPG when done properly…
All good stuff tho! Again, I hope you lovely devs are reading all this escellent feedback!

Honestly I agree with all of you about the npc’s, about the one that mentioned the family. I would enjoy to get married to a random woman, after romancing her or such (Or being rejected by other women), train my son to follow me when he is older. I would like to steal a random carriage set it on fire and make it crash against a house or tree to start a forest fire. I would like more weapons like spears, and I would like to hunt a random giant cocodrile as someone else implied. I like the falmer idea, I also think the player should be able to find a living snow elf (one not corrupted) for him to teach him some way to kill the falmer or what happened with them.

I think a whole of tamriel should be revealed (I think it would lag a lot tough) have some ships to have random fights with pirates and such. I would like to build a small camp in the forest or a hut for me to live there with my family.

Having pets would be wonderful, have lures to hunt animals or use them to tame them (A wolf to help me hunt would be great). Fishing with actualy rods would be ok, I also would like to chop a random tree or set it on fire.

I agree with “brendonhands”, I would like to design my own weapon, maybe even write some runes on a sword.

Something I would like is climbing (As many people have sugested) and maybe rope arrows to climb towers or big walls.

Having catapults or other siege weapons would be nice, fighting other kingdoms(cities), have them under your control for them to rebolt against you or loosing them to another kingdom over time.

cemaga, I would bite your hand off for a proper pet in this, maybe something with progression and skills? That would be incredible! Add to that the use of siege weapons and I’d be a very happy, and highly lethal chap indeed!

Yes, Vampires did seem a little nerfed, I guess there’s the worry of making them too badass and killing the balance, but from a player point a view they could certainly be more attractive!
More factions and quests is never a bad thing so you definately get my vote there too.

I think that vampires should be more powerful because once you get to a high level their is little advantage of being a vampire but it is inconvinient. So it should make you much more powerful but have risk aswell.
Also I think mages should have more magics available and also be able to create their own again.
I loved Skyrim by the way. Just some ways to improve

I agree with most of the things here. I would like to see more npc’s in battles because it would make it harder and more fun. And you should be able to attack while riding a horse. They should add building your own house or something like that at least. They should’ve had spears in skyrim like how they did in Morrowind.Overall it is the best RPG i have ever played but they need to add a lot of stuff.

Josh, If you could build your own house I’d probably just live in Skyrim! Good call.
I’d also love to see full mounted combat, they should buy Tale Worlds from Paradox so they can use the team that made Mount & Blade, where mounted combat is spot on…

Dude, I’m with you 100% on using computer-generated speech instead of voice actors. I have been saying this myself for awhile. I know it can be done because I am a programmer. It would use less resources as you stated and could be less cpu intensive compared to current technology, a win-win. Mouth movement much easier to sync, accents could be more consistent to the races and parameters to make each characters voice sound unique. Modern speech synthesis systems are indistinguishable from real human speech and do not sound robotic.
I just wanted to add that if some of the things coming out about the next generation consoles are true like the inability to play used games I believe they are going to have a slow adoption rate. That means there is a chance the next Elder Scrolls game could indeed be available to current consoles as well.

Half of the stuff mentioned would be way to hard to implement. Voice recognition currently isn’t that great due to all the different accents. If you want better voice acting… you wouldn’t want your computer to generate the voice… that would be horrible. The control portion is just laughable. AI is difficult, i believe it is actually the hardest thing to program. Plus with all the tactics you want for 40-55 npcs would put to much of a strain on processors of now… let alone the near future. With minecraft, it was very easy to include the building and destroying to flood areas, that’s the premise of the “game”. Destructible environments are long overdue yes, but not everything should be. The crafting portion was perfect for Skyrim.

I assume this article is really just trolling. I laughed at every single suggestion. It however, wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t seeing as how stupid some people can be.

I would like to see a dialogue/choice system similar to Infamous, in that the choices you make define relationships later in the game. I also really like the idea of being able to create your own business, maintain it, perhaps have some sort of quests about it, and make money from it. I also agree with others that we need better transportation (i.e. boats, carriages, animals?). I am also just beginning to learn the Elder Scrolls story of Tamriel (Skyrim is my first ES game). I would also love better animations when you are climbing, because anyone that has ever played in third person while going up a mountain knows you look like a retard hitting a wall 50 times while climbing. Maybe you could even have your own items for this (grappling hook, mountain climbing gear…). maybe even a “constellation” for it in your level up menu, in which you could get to be able to climb higher, faster, or at sharper inclines? I really don’t have much of a problem with the voices. Very seldomly do look at someone and say, “I’ve heard that voice before.” Also, better combat is a MUST. When I hit someone, I want to see a mark on them, see them limping just a little more, and honestly feel like I’m making contact when I hit them. And using magic at this point look like you are trying to kill a camp with a water hose. I also really would like to go to someplace from a past game. Seeing Morrowind, Cyrodill, or anywhere else people have already been in a new engine would be amazing. Maybe in a different time frame, though. Don’t wanna play the whole game over again I don’t mean to hate on Skyrim when I say any of this… Skyrim is probably my favorite game I have ever played. Ever.

Again, good points all round Christian.
Transport improvements are highly likely for 6, and there seems to be, perhaps suprisingly, a lot of people talking about climbing in various forms!
I think a remake of Morrowind is highly likely as it is not only probably the best ES game, but also never made it to the current generation of consoles. That is something I’m really excited to see and I’m sure would sell VERY well!

skyrim’s pretty great. i love non-linear games, oh boy do i ever, and you guys have some good ideas.

here’s a few things i would like to see or that might be interesting:
-more wildlife & animals
– perhaps later in game you could be able to own multiple properties/buy stores and get an income from them/or perhaps lose money sometimes – and there could be missions and troubles involved in that too, such as people intimidating your workers or other businesses/people not liking it for political reasons or what have you
-should be more consequences of actions; in skyrim it sort of felt like you could “choose” a lot of things, and it wouldnt really effect the overall gameplay
-should be able to build certain things, like put up a tent, or make a little lean-to to sleep in, make a place to go back to and store stuff… build a chest to store stuff, buy and add a lock on it…(otherwise bandits may steal from it while youre gone) – and you might wake up with bandits trying to attack you, or wolves if youre in a more dangerous place
-maybe a “relationship status bar” that improves or wanes depending on your actions/what you say to people, ie more character development and relationship building
-more items, more unique items
-maybe upgrade vampire/werewolf skills like speech or lockpicking
-maybe “nature” perks/skills, like being better at climbing (mountains and trees), better at wildlife (like bears, foxes, wolves, rabbits etc) not being able to detect you or care that youre there, when harvesting plants you get extra, finding more plants to harvest, being able to regenerate in forests or something, ability to “commune” with nature, make animals do stuff for you or something
-should be able to climb mountains, trees
-more interaction with world; you can cut down trees, dig holes, chop wood, sell wood, fish, be able to be a bartender, play music, get money for playing music, drink with people, smoke with people
-more wildlife and animals
-more people
-plot idea: crazy war has ravaged land, you and refugees flee tamriel and emmigrate in a boat, so at first you are interacting with other refugees in this boat until you get to the new land, where you all land and you(alone) get to explore a new crazy awesome big world with lots of forests, mountains, desert, jungle, scenery, towns, etc, new creatures, new races… it would be interesting to see how the other people who have landed with you interact and start new lives seperately from you as well, how they are getting along in the city they landed at, how the people who already lived there view them, and you might see them later in other places in the new world as well in your travels.
-maybe get to choose where you will start in the game [to use plot example of immigration you could choose to be coming from tamriel, or being one of the people who already lives in the new world (not belonging to a guild yet), or another person who lives in the new world but in a different place (maybe then you would already start in a particular guild)] this would make it perhaps more interesting and even more non-linear and more playable and interesting to play a second or third time or what have you
-flying spell sometime? maybe there is a spell (that takes a lot of magic) that you can transform into a flying animal for a while, or one where you can just fly as yourself, or fly a dragon somewhere along your travels
-and of course bigger! bigger, bigger, bigger

Wow, definately another candidate for Bethesda’s concept team! Loving the ideas, specially; the relationship bar, playing music, proper climbing, and the ability to build simple (and / or complex?) stuff like shelters etc… I’d be very happy to pay extra for any of these in the next Elder Scrolls!

@Nathan Tbh everything you said you wanted has already been made as pc mods, bethedsa obviously only make the elder scrolls on console for financial purposes because their all cleary better on pc in every single way. In my opinion, no game of bethedsa’s has ever topped Morrowind because it just had the sikkest atmosphere and hand crafted depth out of any game iv played really — back when the Elder Scrolls was not known by everyone in the damn world lol. As for the next location, i would like to say Elsweyr on Valenwood since neither desert or jungle has been covered truely in previous games :).

Agreed about the mods. Hopefully they will take note of which ones are / will be popular and incorporate these changes into ES6. I have to say I agree concerning Morrowind. Oblivion was great, but somehow it never quite grabbed me like Morrowind did… good times!

I’d like to see valenwood elsywer summersetisles blackmarsh or even the sea elves then after we cover all of “modern nirun” we can do prequels with dwemer snow elves alyieds ect. Maybe even the divines!

OK, someone knows their Elder Scrolls! I’d second all that, maybe we could have some sort of “flashback” mechaninc to allow players to drop in & out of the prequel / earlier history stuff? Or are we asking for too much?

I am only 11, ok. Im not into that dungeons and dragons crap…AT ALL! BUT THIS GAME IS FREAKING AWSOME!!!! i would just like to see maybe a more variety of dialouge. I think the graphics are fine, but i do agree with cody having ur son as a compainion FREAKING AWSOME TOO!! but id like the compainions to be faster kinda like in fallout new vegas. because, i have to walk if i have a compainion because they dont pay attention and get left behind. i would also LOVE to see the compainions being unkillable. That all

I want to see far more weapons. And they don’t all have to have their own set of stats, there could be like classes. Why is it that all steel swords look the same? Just because they are made of steel doesnt mean they are the same. Why not say keep the same “classes” of weapons (iron,steel,etc) but instead have several different skins for each class. For example you would have an ebony sword that looks like a steel sword and another ebony sword that looks like a glass sword. This also opens up the possibility of collecting sets of weapons. The same goes for armor. And also, i should be able to wear enchanted clothing under my armor. And cut my charactors hair, and get him tatoos. Also, why does each arrow class have to have its own quiver? why not have several kinds of quivers for the charactor to loot or buy. Also, fletching, arrow enchanting, maybe even quiver enchanting, so every arrow you put in it gets an enchantment. Also to anyone still reading…thank you lol i think most people have given up by now lol but i would really really love to see these things in the game. lol

first…i hate draughs,aka UNDEAD!few are awesome but most in the game?!!…fighting the same ‘hanging skeletons’ with horned helms do get boring from time to time…they should name it ‘Graveyard’ rather than skyrim(no hard feelings though),i suggest that there should be more interesting hostiles such as giant octopus or sharks or crocodiles at the river and the sea?or mutants,alien-like creatures in the dungeons?or even adding up the devils and angels with cool suits and armors?but the other npcs such as orcs,vamps…etc should also stay for they are unique and cool!
Second,is the transportation,please add up more transport (other than horses,carriages and hopefully dragons) such as boats,ships etc for it shall be more massive world than elder scrolls 5 (i suppose…).
Finally is the tech of game storyline…come on! hundred of years had passed since the first elder scrolls to the fifth!make new advanced weapons tech of the ancients(hope u know what i meant… ‘-_- ) such as changing the bow to bowguns,or greatswords to knights’ spears,or even bottle of poisons into bombs/grenades that release poisons upon exploding,and well,there is also smokebomb…etc(u got what i mean…)…one more,the co-op thingy, both split-screen and live…is a MUST!

Agree with almost everything you say… I would personally pay some serious money just to battle an giant octopus, I’m thinking something like The Watcher in the Water from Lord of the Rings… I’d also love to both use and see other forms of transport, something like seeing a carriage with multiple people in it moving past me on the road, or maybe a line of horse riders. More weapons is always good and the steampunk angle is a nice one. I love co-op so you’ve definately got me there too! Great suggestions… Bethesda? You listening?

I think that in Elder Scrolls 6 the Falmer are going to declare war on the surface world, and the main plot line will be that the protagonist will have to find where the Dwemer disappeared to that they can help the surface dwellers. There were alot of hints in Skyrim about the Falmer, like Enthir talking about how their raids have become more frequent and organized, and there’s the book in his room where the author says that he fears the Falmer will come to reclaim the surface.

@Kumara – Awesome! I can definately see myself defending the surface from the Falmer and then working my way down into a huge & nightmarish Flamer cave city and finally to a central Falmer heart deep in the bowels of the earth to do battle with their ultimate leader; it would be claustophobic, atmospheric and a fantastic tool to stop players just running away… very tense… bang in a couple of “escape” shafts to allow returns to town / home at key points and you’ve got a compelling story / model! “Bethesda do Ultima Underword” anyone? Yes please!

I think Bethesda needs to start looking at Rockstar a little more. I want to do stuff, I don’t care what as long as it is FUN. Picking up ingredients and making potions was never fun; it could be engaging and immersive but it’s not jumping of a plane and falling on a garden pool. It needs more people and variety, more things to ride, more weapons, more mini-games, more (a LOT more) magic, more things for god’s sake! I still can’t believe that you can’t play one of those guitar-like instruments NPCs play in TES games, or that there is no magic to float people around or steal their clothes or give them orders. Yeah, GTA games have vehicles which are more than half the fun, but TES games have freaking magic! There are mods for all this stuff yeah I know, but it’s not the same.

I want to set a house on fire after blocking the exits. I want to ride a dragoon. I want to summon a crazy giant in the middle of a congress meeting. I want to save a family from being killed by a gang of werewolves. I want to fight an underwater city of monsters by calling the fish to help me. I want to fight the Emperor’s Army with my giant quake-producing flaming-hammer.

I just hope Bethesda realizes they are missing a lot of stuff. I personally preferred Morrowind’s lack of voice over the crappy voice acting Oblivion and Skyrim have, I don’t listen to it anyway since I’m reading many times faster. And I’m not even talking about next-gen stuff, all this could be made in the existing hardware.

@alvare I agree with pretty much everything you say! I particularly like a good mini-game so bringing ones in like those in The Witcher 2 would be awesome. More variety would always be welcome, and better interaction with the environment would be great fun, they should consider a LOTRO type music system which is epic… I can also visualise every scenario you mention and would defo second them all!
Let’s just hope Bethesda are listening…

Those interested in the possibility of kinect Shouts should try Haunt. One of the power ups you unlock is the ability to yell damaging spells at enemies. Invariably I found myself bellowing obscenities at the attacking ghosts, but it was really cool to hear (and see) the power of speech.

I have played both Oblivion and Skyrim. I did beat Skyrim and I loved the game a lot and was amazed that it didn’t end and you could keep going and discovering as well as a continueing of leveling up. I would like to see a very realistic like your watching a movie graphics. Co-op would be nice to have and you could do it with them in your living room by split screen or by xbox live. I liked all the ideas above and on the contrary I would like to see if when you married to a man/women that you could actually have children with them. I don’t want to see sexual activity or anything like that but have an option to lay down to sleep and the game would decide if the female got pregnant or not and the money that you made throughout the game actually helped support your family on wheather they starved or not. Also, have the ability to train your kids in combat yourself and make drastic descisions based on what happened in the surounding enviroment.

Awesome ideas… I don’t think any game has yet nailed the “Family” dynamic, but you do make an excellent argument for how it could be approached, specially the “train your kids” thing, that could be really cool. Hope Bethesda are listening! I love all types of co-op, but still think it’s unlikely (but not impossible!). If it does happen I’m guessing it will be “another player replaces your companion” type approach, for which split screen would be epic. You’ll definitely get your wish for much improved graphics which I also looking forward to!

Why not go back to the land of origin, Atmora? Tamriel has been completely covered now. The land can either be presented as it was long before Tamriel was discovered, or it can take place years after the dragons returned to Skyrim. So many scenarios can take place in which Nirn can only be saved by the most ancient magics of man or beast, by exploring ancient places of power and interacting with the surviving native inhabitants of the land. Atmora is similar, maybe a little larger, in size to Skyrim so it can easily be rendered with equal or better graphics. I’d also recommend a more extensive use of the Elder Scrolls in the main story line and the option to use the scrolls as you wish. So many possibilities with this ancient land.

Would love to see this Nik, great suggestion… Atmora is definitely an untapped source of great content! I think I’ll consider doing a “Plot” based piece of “Sequel Speculation” rather than purely a mechanics / functionality one like this one…

Sam Crisp on Comment on Year of Shame: Co-Op Month { I can't play Castle Crasher anymore after having the woods level music stuck in my head for a full day at work. Can't believe you... }

Sam Crisp on Comment on DLC Review:- Burial at Sea... { If you enjoyed a trip back to Rapture I cannot recommend revisiting the second game and Minerva's Den enough. Bioshock 2 improved on so much... }

Onyersix on Comment on Year of Shame: Co-Op Month { Yeah, it REALLY suffers from repetition. There are marginal distractions in the form of boss fights, but I certainly wouldn't bother with it again. }